Rayleigh scattering in the transmission spectrum of HAT-P-18b

We have performed ground-based transmission spectroscopy of the hot Jupiter HAT-P-18b using the ACAM instrument on the William Herschel Telescope (WHT). Differential spectroscopy over an entire night was carried out at a resolution of R ≈ 400 using a nearby comparison star. We detect a blueward slope extending across our optical transmission spectrum that runs from 4750 to 9250 Å. The slope is consistent with Rayleigh scattering at the equilibrium temperature of the planet (852 K). We do not detect enhanced sodium absorption, which indicates that a high-altitude haze is masking the feature and giving rise to the Rayleigh slope. This is only the second discovery of a Rayleigh-scattering slope in a hot Jupiter atmosphere from the ground, and our study illustrates how ground-based observations can provide transmission spectra with precision comparable to the Hubble Space Telescope.